Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza on Sunday blamed the ICC’s suspension of two of its key bowlers for illegal actions for his side’s exit from the World Twenty 20.
Bangladesh was bundled out of the tournament after four straight losses in the Super 10 group stage. But Mortaza said the team was hobbled by the ICC’s decision to bar key pacemen Taskin Ahmed and left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny early in the group stages.
Bangladesh made a failed frantic appeal to the ICC to have Taskin’s suspension overturned.
“In the last eight matches, Taskin’s economy rate was the best in the world. So it was always difficult to lose him,” Mortaza said at Dhaka airport after returning home.
“The way he was bowling, we had our plan set around him. We had to change the entire game plan. Before the Australia game, when he was banned, we could not hold our emotions.
“We accepted that Sunny’s action has problems. But Taskin’s ban was a complete shock,” he said.